A123 Systems, a company which makes Lithium-ion batteries for electric car makers has announced that it has sued Apple on illegally snatching off its top PhDs, engineers and experts from the battery department. The battery company has also claimed that Apple is making its own battery department. This claim has now confirmed that Apple is working on a new car.
A few days ago, Apple and Tesla were in war of words. Apple said that it is making something that will make Tesla run for its money. Tesla also claimed that Apple is trying to poach Tesla’s top engineers.
A123 has further said that Apple hired 5 of its employees back in June 2014. It all started when Apple approach a A123 employee, who was at a top position in a department, which is responsible new batteries, research and development. A123 has named all the 5 employees who left the company for Apple because they were entitled to a noncompete, nondisclosure contract. A123 says that it had to shut down all the departments where these 5 employees were working because of the lack of talent. This depicts that Apple has poached the finest talent and hurt A123 to the core.
The lawsuit against Apple was filed on February 6th. A123 found emails showing detailed discussions between Apple and the employees who are now working in Apple.
A123 is a famous company which has made batteries and new braking systems for Chevrolet, Chrysler and McLaren series. It says that 2014 was extremely profitable for the company.
The latest leak clearly shows Apple’s intentions about iCar. It is also evident that iCar will be an electric car. This means that we are about to see a head to head competition between Tesla and Apple in the coming years.
Apple didn’t respond to the news of lawsuit by A123.